Sound Waves (Avatar: The Last Airbender) Book 2

Chapter 19 - Reflections

3rd Person's POV

Inside of a cramped apartment, sat an old man sitting at a table, unpacking his belongings as he and his nephew continue to move into their new home. The air humid and dust floating through the air. A lot of work needed to be done with this place, but the ex-general didn't mind. This was home to him now, and he vowed to take care of it as best as he could.

The door slides up, and steps in a teenager with a bad attitude, his face scorned and eyebrows arched downwards as he thinks to himself. 'He is in the city.'.

"So, I was thinking about names for my new tea shop. How about the Jasmine Dragon? It's dramatic, poetic, has a nice ring to it." The old ex-army general stated in thought, thinking up names for their newly acquired tea shop. Zuko pulls out the flyer he found, stating Appa's disappearance and that Avatar Aang was looking for him, in Ba Sing Se. "The Avatar's here in Ba Sing Se." He shows off the flyer of Appa, "And he's lost his bison." Iroh gently takes the piece of paper out of his nephew's hand, looking down at it with a slightly worried look.

"We have a chance for a new life here." Iroh begins, watching Zuko walk away from the table and over to the window, staring out it. "If you start stirring up trouble, we could lose all the good things that are happening for us." He explains to him, hoping that Zuko would just drop the idea of the Avatar being in the same city as him.

Zuko spins around in his heel swiftly, irritated, "Good things that are happening for you." He emphasizes, "Have you ever thought that I want more from life than a nice apartment and a job serving tea?" 'He doesn't understand, he doesn't get it.' The teenager thinks to himself.

"There is nothing wrong with a life of peace and prosperity. I suggest you think about what it is that you want for your life, and why." States Iroh earnestly, 'I thought he was getting better.' The old man thinks.

"I want my destiny." Iroh's eyes soften in sadness, releasing a sigh as he thinks back to years past, and how Zuko's 'destiny' has changed so many times.

"What that means is up to you." The banished prince walks away from the window. "The Tea Weevil! No, that's stupid." Iroh suddenly voices a name that came to mind. Zuko leaves the room, letting Iroh continue thinking about different names and finish unpacking.

'True destiny...'

---

Himoko brushes past Sokka as he puts paste onto another stone wall, then slamming a poster on top of it. She hands Katara another poster to put up, glancing behind her to up at Momo, who was currently hanging down by his tail above Sokka and Toph.

"We'll split up to cover more area. Toph, I guess you should just come with me." Sokka suggests to the younger girl.

"Why? Because you think I can't put up posters on my own?" She replied snappily, grabbing his brush, lazily slapping paste onto the wall, and grabbing a poster from out of Himoko's hands, whacking it onto the stone wall- Er, the wrong way around. After a small beat of silence, Toph states in an exasperated tone, "It's upside down, isn't it?" Himoko lets out a small giggle, resting her free hand on Toph's shoulder.

"I will just go with Sokka," Toph says in defeat, handing the brush back to him, while Sokka grins in triumph. The team proceeds to split up, however not going too far away from each other, especially when it came to Himoko. They had to, after all, keep their promise to both the Earth King and his advisor, to keep her within their sights at all times while they were out looking for Appa.